Robert Covington, Jr. is a managing director of The Stephens Group, LLC. His background as both an entrepreneur and an investor combine to give him a unique perspective on building and growing solid companies.

Prior to joining The Stephens Group, Mr. Covington was General Partner at SSM Partners specializing in services and technology-enabled services businesses. His board responsibilities included AllWebLeads, Bulldog Solutions, Handango, Datacert and Plan Express.

Mr. Covington also was the founder and CEO of Firstdoor, an internet-based information services company to corporate human resources departments. Under his leadership, Firstdoor negotiated strategic deals with BNA, ADP, Oracle and Marsh & McLennan and raised $18 million of venture capital. Firstdoor merged with Enwisen Corporation in 2002 and was bought by Lawson Software in 2010.

Mr. Covington currently serves as a director of Brand Group Holdings, Inc., Buyers Protection Group, Inc., FiberMedia Group, LLC, FireHost, Inc., Jefferson National Financial Corp. and Vestcom International. He is also a member of the board of The Nature Conservancy. He received his B.S. in Natural Sciences and Mathematics at Washington and Lee University and his Master’s degree in Health Policy and Management at Yale University.